Renovation of Historic Buildings in Tainan

In recent years, the Tainan City government has been working on advocating the revitalization of the regional economy and tourism resources such as incorporating historical buildings with special products and the culture of each region in order to add value to those buildings, which has also brought a house renovation boom to Tainan. The very first department store in southern Taiwan, Hayashi Department Store, is one typical example.

Hayashi Department Store opened on December 5, 1932 during the period of Japanese occupation. At that time, it was the highest five-floor building in Tainan, also called the Five-Stories House, and it was especially popular with Japanese in polite society. Besides, there was a lift called “The Flowing Basket” installed in the building, which was the first commercial lift in southern Taiwan as well. After WWII ended in 1945, Hayashi Department Store was transformed into offices of the Taiwan Salt Factory and the Salt Police. However, since 1997, it was left unused and became a vacant building. Only in 2009 Hayashi Department Store was classified as a Municipal Heritage Site, and then the repair by the Tainan City Government started in 2010. Then the ownership was transferred to the Koche Development Company, and after the renovation was completed, Hayashi Department Store reopened in 2014 as Tainan Cultural Creative Department, becoming a window towards a New Modern Age in Tainan.

The concept of Hayashi Department Store is divided into a different theme for each floor, “Tainan living room”, “Tainan design “, “Tainan good fashion”, “Tainan gourmet”, “Tainan culture” and “Tainan landscape”. In addition, the designer had saved some of the ancient floorboards from the traditional days and had them installed on the second and third floors. Moreover, on the outer wall over the sixth floor from the fifth floor, there were bullet holes from strafe from the time of World War II. On the sixth floor, there were the remains of a shrine called “Suehirosha” left from the period of the Japanese occupation.

According to the Mayor of Tainan city, Lai Ching-Te, more than 1.4 million people a year have visited this department store since it reopened, and it has also attracted a lot of foreign media. The Mayor additionally claimed that Hayashi Department Store has become an important window for local people and international visitors to learn the history and culture of Tainan, as well as a model of activation of the monuments and heritage to each local government. He also said that it is a landmark of the creative industry that received the most remarkable attention in the country in 2014 due to the management consignment to a private company and invited companies that were interested in the Conservation of Culture to join activating historical monuments.